Intel Core i5-9500 vs Intel Core i7-3960X

Core i5-9500 vs Core i7-3960X benchmarks

According to the hardwareDB Benchmark tool, the Core i5-9500 is faster than the Core i7-3960X. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i7-3960X in all gaming tests too.

When comparing these CPUs we notice that they have the same number of cores but the Core i7-3960X has more threads. With our hardware info, we find that the Core i7-3960X has a slightly higher clock speed than the Core i5-9500. Despite this, the Core i5-9500 has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i5-9500 CPU outputs less heat than a Core i7-3960X CPU because of its significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Most CPUs have more threads than cores. This technology, colloquially called hyperthreading, improves performance by splitting a core into multiple virtual ones. This provides more efficient utilisation of a core. For instance, the Core i5-9500 has the same number of threads as cores. This means the the CPU does not support hyperthreading.